Warne happy to push squad to its limit in Austria

The first team squad are approaching the end of a week-long stay at the Sportschule Lindabrunn complex which has taken in two matches, the second of which is against Hungarian side Soproni VSE tomorrow.

But it's the work in between that is so important. The long days on the training ground, involving multiple sessions, are followed by classroom work at night.

For Warne, it's not just about building team spirit but creating a resilient group fit for the rigours of a long season in League One.

Speaking to the Advertiser from Austria, he said the trip had achieved everything he wanted so far.

"The lads have trained really hard, in fact on Wednesday they trained harder than they played the night before," he said, referring to Tuesday's 7-1 romp against Florisdorfer AC.

"Normally in the football world you play a match and have a day's rest but we haven't done that, we are trying to make them physically resilient and mentally strong. We are trying to break them a little bit and hopefully that will reap rewards as the season goes on.

"We do a run first thing in a morning, then a ball session, then we have breakfast and we train and do all the pre-hab stuff. Then we train them on the grass for an hour-and-a-half.

"After that they do an upper body workout and have lunch and a bit of down time because it is normally really hot here by that time of day.

"We then go through all the process again, with the pre-habs and the runs followed by an evening meal and we talk through the next game in the classroom and how we are going to play. It's hectic, but in a good way.

"We're not a holiday camp, we're at a proper training camp. There are no distractions, it's just gyms and grass, so its perfect."

Warne will again give run-outs to all his players in tomorrow's match, which kicks off at 5pm local time (4pm GMT). There is a slight doubt over Joe Newell, who has an infection, but he is expected to be fit to play.

The rotation will continue on Tuesday, when Rotherham send teams to play at Gainsborough Trinity and Alfreton before next Friday's home friendly with Sheffield United.

Added Warne: "The lads who played 60 minutes on Tuesday will play 30 this weekend and vice versa, and that means all the players will all have played about two hours of football.

"They will all play a good part in the games on Tuesday. All 22 understand how we are going to play so I could send any two 11s to either one, it would make no difference. 

"We can start putting the cream together for the home games against Sheffield United and Barnsley but at the moment it is all about getting match ready and trying to impress the staff with performances and ,to be fair, the players are going to make my job difficult. That's good, I'm not moaning about, I have a lot of options."